Celebrity news from Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith

Tag Archives: “The Closer”

Kyra Sedgwick tells us that she and her “The Closer” compatriots have yet to succumb to the feeling of the show’s days being numbered — despite the fact that they’re shooting their final season. “I think everyone is in a healthy state of denial. It’s a long year. It’s like a network year, and we’re not even half-way through shooting,” she says of the 21-episode season that premieres tonight (7/11) on TNT.

“Having to say goodbye — I think that’s going to be rough. I’m sure the last few episodes will have their share of boo-hoo moments, as well as picking fights,” adds the Emmy-winning actress, who celebrates her 23rd anniversary with husband Kevin Bacon this September. “I don’t know about anyone else, but with Kevin, I still have to pick fights — silly little fights when we have to spend time apart, I guess trying to make it easier to separate,” she admits. With her “The Closer” series family, “having spent seven years together, it’s going to be emotional. The quality of the time is really more than you spend with your real family. We’re going to miss each other terribly.”

This season’s “The Closer” will have Kyra’s inimitable interrogator extraordinaire, Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson, doing something breathtakingly ununusal among TV’s legions of audacious, rule-bending cops. She is going to have to face up to the consequences of her audacious, rule-bending actions.

Kyra says she agreed to do the extra episodes because creator James Duff “really wanted to end with an epic journey. I wanted to be supportive of that.” There will be cliff-hangers along the way — when the summer’s run of “The Closer” closes, and its winter run, culminating at last with the series finale next summer.

Expect Brenda to seriously break down along the way. Kyra has already shot the episode in which it happens, and says, “That was a rough one. That was a really rough one. That was one I carried around for a few weeks before we shot it. I was fortunate I had to weekend to relax afterward. That was something I was happy to let go once I did it.”

After decades of juggling motherhood and her career, “The Closer” star Kyra Sedgwick says she’s getting used to life as an empty nester with husband Kevin Bacon.

“You know, it’s been okay so far,” observes the actress, whose son, Travis, turns 22 this week, and whose daughter, Sosie, is 18 years old. “For one thing they come home a lot, on spring break and such, which is great. My son is actually done with college now so he’s around. They’re home, but they’re not really home. It’s a little confusing. But you know, once they actually leave, go away to school, it’s never quite the same. It’s a huge transition, to no longer be a day-to-day parent. That’s done forever.”

Kyra acknowledges, “It’s a loss, but you also get to figure out, I guess, what fulfills you as a solitary person, and in being in a marriage without the children there. It can be a time for growth, but that doesn’t mean it’s super easy.”

As for more romance? “Oh, for sure!” she answers with a laugh. “Absolutely.”

Right now, Kyra is six epsiodes into shooting the final 21 of her acclaimed show, which returns to the TNT lineup July 11 — with a promise, according to her, of this being the most dramatic season ever. The reason she agreed to additional episodes in the final year? Creator James Duff, she says, “really wanted to end with an epic journey. I wanted to be supportive of that.”

Kyra Sedgwick reports that she and hubby Kevin Bacon and their 21-year-old son and 18-year-old daughter will soon be taking off for a holiday vacation together in Belize — and she can hardly wait “to have our children in our clutches again for a week or so. Nothing feels better and safer to me than being surrounded by my husband and children,” says the Emmy-winning “The Closer” star, whose series returns with new episodes a week from tonight (12/6).

Kyra admits she’s still adjusting to having an empty nest at home in New York, now that daughter Sosie’s off at college. “My life is definitely changed — now I guess I’ll have the chance to see what that change means.”

One thing she already knows is that “It makes it easier to leave town, there’s no question. I won’t be torn for six months, feeling like, ‘Oh, I’m leaving my kids at home and I’m such a bad mother.'”

She’s speaking, of course, of her “Closer” production schedule, which keeps her in Los Angeles much of the year. Asked whether she can see the end on the horizon after six years of the acclaimed TNT drama, she answers, “I think the show continues to be amazing. I mean, we went up in viewership 20 per cent last year, which is unusual.” To say the least! Small wonder “The Closer”‘ is already picked up for next season.

The latest “Closer” mini season begins with a crackling episode that throws a few curves, and sets the stage for her beguiling Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson Brenda to take a promotion that her husband (Jon Tenney) and colleagues believe she should want. But, “Everyone is projecting their dreams and aspirations on her, that’s what makes her feel alone this season,” the actress notes. “I think that she is sort of fighting against the promotion. It’s complicated for her.”

Kyra’s latest activities include the video she and Kevin made in support of gay marriage. “Love is so rare these days. To find someone you want to spend the rest of your life with is a rare and wonderful gift, to opposite it is so dead wrong to me,” she explains.

And they include her role as a reporter in the big-screen “Man on a Ledge” with Sam Worthington, Jamie Bell, Ed Harris and Elizabeth Banks, shooting in NYC. As for playing a character different from Brenda, she laughs. “She’s a hoot. I’ve really been enjoying it. I love Brenda, but I enjoy having an affair.”